


Of Peaches and Lilies

by xiin (wnnlanna)



Category: GOT7
Genre: M/M, idk how to use this site help, mentions of deaths, mentions of mental illnesses, overall depressing themes, will add more as i progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 12:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10990776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wnnlanna/pseuds/xiin
Summary: Lilies are Jaebum’s favorite flower, but he will choose the peach scent that always appear to trail Jinyoung over them any day — even on days when everything seems to be falling apart.An AU in which both of them experience life, love, and lost for the first and last times.





	Of Peaches and Lilies

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Brand new author here at AO3. I’ve also cross-posted this on tumblr and wattpad under the same name. I’m not a native English speaker so if you find any grammatical mistakes, please kindly inform me in the comments! Hope you guys will enjoy my first ever English fanfic! *heart eyes*

 

The smell of lilies was sickeningly sweet in the air.

Im Jaebum could practically taste it as he walked across the flower shop; the scent being so pervasive that it even eclipsed that of the freshest roses. He winced his nose slightly but didn't attempt much other than a few occasional-window-shuffling here and there. It had been nearly three months since Jaebum started working shifts at the flower parlor; he was kind of accustomed to all the overwhelming scents by now.

The black-haired employee slowly worked his way through each of the flowers, carefully separating glued petals apart with the littlest pressure possible. It was an arduous and tedious task, but Jaebum found it calming. The work required immense focus, so he discovered himself completely devoid of other thoughts whenever he was styling the fragile flowers into perfection, one at a time. Jaebum tended to overthink a lot, and moments like these allowed him some time away from all his chaotic, cluttered, and often stressful thoughts.

A loud pang suddenly jerked Jaebum awake from his trance, who instinctively scrunched the flower he was working on — a peach blossom, breaking its delicate stem in half. He swore under his breath while walking away from his working counter to check where the noise came from; pursed lips relaxing when a familiar face was spotted, and instead spreading into a warm smile as the newly-arrived profusely apologized.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to startle you there."

Jaebum voiced a soft 'It's okay' to the owner of this flower shop: an old lady in her late 70's who travels around with her wheelchair. She probably bumped into one of the walls again, causing the noise which had startled him. Jaebum quickly offered her a hand when he noticed the elderly woman trying to maneuver herself, receiving a gentle smile and quiet gratitude in return.

The owner had always treated him more like a grandson than an employee since his first day here, and Jaebum appreciated that. He admired the senior's wisdom that could be only accumulated through decades of experience, and her kind presence that never appeared to falter even the slightest degree. As his employer, she was never demanding. In fact, she often offered him her own home-cooked meals whenever the younger was working past his shifts, and even told him to come in late if he needed some time-off.

"Oh! And the new batch of lilies I've ordered just arrived this morning."

 _That explains the smell_. Jaebum thought as he nodded, while still pushing the wheelchair towards a separate room to the back. His gaze unconsciously trailed downwards until it fixed on a few white lilies resting atop of a clothed lap; the color was so pure that it almost looked transparent. He watched on as the elderly woman hummed a 'thank you' before moving her wheelchair closer to a dark corner, where a monotone portrait along with several memorabilia was displayed atop of a small shelf.

A pair of wrinkled hands reached out to collect the dried flowers before the picture, replacing them with the fresh lilies on her laps. There was a hint of sadness in the elder's eyes as she gazed at the portrait of her late husband, who had died from cancer around ten years ago. They had known each other for more than half of their lives and were married in the majority of them. She still wasn't used to living without him, despite it being almost a decade after he had passed already.

"I brought you lilies again — pure white, just the way you liked them."

She spoke fondly while looking at the flowers. Her husband had always preferred them over any other type, especially the snow-colored ones. 'Roses are overrated.' was what he once told her during a date, 'Lilies, on the other hand, are under-appreciated.' she remembered him saying, 'Most people associate them with funerals but I like to think of them as representing innocence, they also smell nice.'

During her husband's final days, she never once forgot to bring a fresh bouquet of lilies every time she went to visit him. It would often be set beside his hospital bed, a pristine white that blended in with the light blue walls, never failing to brighten him up, making his eyes glint, and she would continue with the ritual even after his death.

"I hope you're happy up there." She let out a soft sign before resuming,

"And I hope they have a lot of white lilies in heaven."

She carefully collected the dried petals onto her lap, before guiding her wheelchair back towards the front. Jaebum silently stood there as he looked at the old woman who was slowly transferring the dehydrated flower into a glass bottle. An entire section of the shop was dedicated to them, neatly piled along the walls and ever-increasing in number. Those glass containers sometimes sparkled under the sunlight, giving the boutique a melancholic yet peaceful feeling. It reminded Jaebum of the chimes in one of the cathedrals he had visited.

Jaebum quickly accepted the bottle from the owner's hand, before shuffling to the shelf to place it. He found a vacant spot and was just about to put down the flask, when the other asked a question that made him choke on his spit. He barely caught himself just in time to not knock the whole pile over.

"So, you've been looking kind of dreamy at work lately. Are you dating someone?"

Jaebum put down the transparent tube, and quickly covered his mouth to suppress a cough. The elder laughed while reaching out her hands to stroke at his back endearingly. Something about Jaebum just makes her want to look after him. Maybe it was how the other's eyes always seemed to lose a bit of its spark during silent moments. Maybe it was the way Jaebum always seemed to be a bit lost, like a puzzle piece without its pair. They reminded her of the days she spent alone — feeling incomplete and out of tune, before her late husband stepped inside her world and made everything align perfectly.

"No, I guess I'm just tired." The woman looked at him with quizzical eyes, which prompted Jaebum to further elaborate. "Really, I've never even dated anyone before."

It was the truth, to the best of Jaebum's knowledge anyway. He never recollected dating anyone during his reality, let alone feeling attraction. He prioritized work and his cat above everything else, and was definitely not looking forward to change the order any time soon. It was a simple life and Jaebum liked it; there's no need to complicate things with the involvement of a human being. Period.

The elderly only smiled before she spoke, voice filled with certainty and experience. "One day, you'll find someone who'll become your reason to live life."

Jaebum found his throat constricting as he struggled to formulate an answer. He wanted to brush the comment off with a laugh at first, but found himself unable to do so when he looked at the endless lines of white petals along the wall. The smell of lilies was sickeningly sweet in the air, and Jaebum could practically taste it as his lips parted to give a response that was nothing but an empty lie.

"I hope so too."

Of course he knew that it would never happen.

After all — grim reapers weren't supposed to fall in love.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Lilies were Jaebum's favorite flowers, actually.

He contemplated mentioning this in his journal, but decided against it. There was simply no point in writing it down: a grim reaper's personal preferences were futile at best and hindering at worst. Jaebum pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing with the entry, messy handwriting sprawling under a single lily petal attached to the page.

Grim reapers were destined to forget everything about a soul once it is collected. Likewise, their existence on earth would be erased each time they finish a job, over and over again. The only thing that retained were interactions with each other; they couldn't create lasting memories with humans, so most didn't even bother to get to know their targets at all. The majority of grim reapers watched their targets' lives from afar, only intervening when their souls were due to collect them. Jaebum was one of the few who wanted to get to know and also remember each of the people he was assigned with, hence the diary.

Jaebum found humans interesting — partly because he didn't have memories of his own. In fact, none of the grim reapers had any recollection about their past lives; they weren't even sure whether they had had one or not. However, the main reason for his fascination with humans was not his lack of memories, but rather how they all managed to be alike yet different from each other at the same time, similar to the way every petal of a flower would always resemble, but was never identical to the rest.

It was Jaebum's twenty-fifth year as a grim reaper, and he had collected more than one hundred souls along the progress. As time passed by — the black-haired man learned a lot about humans from documenting their lives: one being that they were usually motivated by one of three things: life, love, or lost. It was rare to find a human who possessed all three like the shop owner, which was why he found the elderly lady to be particularly interesting.

The reaper's dark eyes twinkled a bit as he thought about what to write next. He had already mentioned the wall of preserved lily petals in his previous entry and wrote about its scent in this one. Should he just leave it as it is? A soft mewl suddenly interrupted Jaebum's train of thought before the culprit announced itself: a two-toned black and cream cat he had named Nora.

"Hey there."

Jaebum hummed as the feline affectionately rubbed its head on his outstretched palm. He had found it abandoned beside the dumpster a few weeks ago, malnourished and drenched by the rain. At first, Jaebum's only intention had been to feed the cat, no fostering since it would only complicate his existence as a grim reaper. He wasn't sure whether the whole 'memory reset' thing applied to animals or not, so there was a chance that the cat would forget about him as soon as he completes his current task. Though he ended up carrying the small creature back to his apartment just three days later anyway. _Oh well_.

Jaebum was absentmindedly petting Nora when the door swung open, hitting the concrete walls with a deafening sound. Nora jumped, clearly startled by the noise and clawed Jaebum's fingers as it let out a feline screech. The reaper reflexively pulled his hands back when it bumped into an opened bottle of black ink, sending the colored fluid everywhere. Jaebum looked at the mess, and his cat who was now curled up on the table, before turning to scold at the newcomer in irritation.

 _"_ How many times do I have to fucking tell you to knock the damn door before coming in?"

"Hyung. Language, please."

Jaebum groaned, rolling his eyes at Kim Yugyeom who only winked in response. The pink-haired man was also a grim reaper who was around 5 years younger than him but Jaebum swore that the other acted like a 5 year-old at every opportunity he got. The older reaper wondered what kind of treacheries did his past human self commit to deserve this while cleaning up the clutter. _His former reincarnation must have sinned a lo..._. w _ait_. Jaebum paused when he realized something: it was actually better to not have had one, because if he were a human whose soul was assigned to Yugyeom — Jaebum's a hundred percent positive that he would hand over his life prematurely just to escape from the reaper.

"Don't look at me like that _Jaebum-ah_ ; we both know you love me."

"Call me that again and you'll become the first ever reaper to be murdered."

Yugyeom ignored the low warning and instead hopped over to pet Nora. Jaebum sighed, anger dissipating — he knew what Yugyeom said was true. Despite all their quarrels, or more accurately, all the quarrels Jaebum one-sidedly has with the other, deep down, Jaebum knew that he depended on Yugyeom as much as the younger depended on him. Their bond was formed in large part due to their mutual understanding as grim reapers, but what truly cemented the relationship was their friendship and trust, not the other way around.

Jaebum developed a soft spot for Yugyeom over the years. He never said it out loud, but was certain that the latter knew it too. The tall but childish reaper was one of the most positive and caring individuals Jaebum had ever met. In a way, Yugyeom was one of the few if not the only reaper who just...enjoyed this warped definition of 'life'. The kid really cared about each and every one of his assigned souls and even turned sad when it came time to collect them. He also kept a diary just like Jaebum, but it contained more personal stories along with sentimental descriptions and vibrant pictures coupled with flashes of colors, reflecting the reaper's kind-hearted nature.

"Wow, hyung. Your handwriting is even uglier than your face."

 _Nope_ , Jaebum takes that back. Nothing about this kid is warm at all.

Yugyeom yelped when a fist hit him square in the chest. The younger reaper clutched above his heart, pretending to exaggerate the pain while whimpering to Nora, whose blue irises just stared back dismissively. Jaebum heard the pink-haired muttering ' _Like pet like owner_...' under a hushed voice but ignored it. Thinking about Yugyeom made him remember that he had forgotten to quote the shop owner's sentence about finding a soulmate. He moved his fountain pen across the page, carefully carving each letter just to prove Yugyeom's insult wrong, and was merely dotting in the finishing period when the one he had in mind chimed up.

"When's the collection date?"

"Tomorrow at 9.52 in the morning. Car crash."

Jaebum answered nonchalantly, hand raising from his journal. The younger's eyes saddened a bit before murmuring ' _Poor thing..._ ', while Jaebum gazed at his notebook vacantly. Unlike Yugyeom, he never felt attachment nor compassion toward to his targets: he was merely interested in humans and that was it. Emotions never did any grim reaper good, Jaebum could still remember Yugyeom's state after the latter collected the soul of a young boy he was particularly fond of. The usually energetic reaper didn't eat, sleep or even react to anything, only moving to let out several frail 'whys' and repeated that pattern for weeks.

During those times, it was none other than Jaebum who helped nurse Yugyeom through his disheveled state, but it would be a lie to say that he had sympathized with him — Jaebum didn't understand the reasons behind Yugyeom's distress, he still doesn't now and never plans to. Although Jaebum couldn't help but wonder out loud as he stared at the lone lily petal, its white color a contrast against the black ink:

"Yugyeom, do you think they have lilies in heaven?"

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The smell of lilies was sickeningly sweet in the air.

Jaebum’s watch clicked to precisely 9.52 when a loud crash occurred. A few people around him screamed as a pool of blood came oozing out under a nearby truck, the flash of the car’s malfunctioning headlights reflecting into his eyes. Jaebum watched the continuously increasing number of onlookers before quickening his pace. Not that it mattered anyway, Jaebum just hated commotion.

The grim reaper went closer until spotting a wrinkled hand, pale and lifeless among the splash of red. He touched the metal around his ring finger when his vision landed on several white lilies scattered around. Jaebum swiped his hands, gaze still focusing on the lilies as his ring illuminated, signaling that the collection has been completed. The flowers’ petals were either bruised or torn from the impact, their scents mixing in with a smell that tasted metallic on Jaebum’s lips.

He suddenly felt sick.


End file.
